John INSISTED that he
wanted a piece of lemon, so we finally decided to stop trying to convince
him that he really didn't, but we made him wait until I found the
camera. I was hoping to get a couple of good shots with his face
twisted into exciting new expressions. But it didn't happen.
He liked it. He had more. Go figure!

Graduation time at
karate! If you are not familiar with the ranks, a beginner starts
with a white belt, then graduates to a gold belt, then to green (which is
what Genny and Jimmy were both promoted to yesterday). After that,
it is purple, blue, then red belt. After that, the path to black
belt gets tough, but first things first.

Getting ready for the graduation ceremony and trials,
Genny and Jimmy socialize in the top photo.

Jimmy admires himself in the mirror. Smallest kid
in the class, but graduating on schedule!

Genny showing off how she'll lick you good if you mess
with her!

Oop! Here we go, time for the ceremony, get in
line!. The gold belts line up (with a nervous gap between them and
the green belts). After the "roll call" of sorts, each
group is put through their paces in front of the "Karate
Masters" to demonstrate their abilities and skills. Of course,
everyone passes muster.

Their names are called, one
at a time, to go up and have their gold belts ceremoniously removed, and
new green belts tied on. First Jimmy, then Genny.

Afterwards, back in line, everyone has new belts
on! Way cool!

A couple of very happy green belts, that's what we've
got.

Here are some shots of a
puppet show play that Genny put on for us, about the true story of
Valentine's Day (which is quite interesting, I might add, I learned a few
things).

She made her own backgrounds, puppets, props and
all. She read from the book and acted out all of the roles. It
was great, we videotaped it, too, until the camcorder battery went
out. (sad face here)

After the play, it's story
time for some very tired boys. Oh well, one didn't make it to his
bed before he gave it up. It's hard to stay awake in a warm Mommy
lap.

Parting shot: Genny
taught herself to play chess with a book she got for Christmas. She
had played with some other friends here and there, but this was the
outcome of the first game she played with me (I was white). I won,
but just BARELY. The first casualty of the entire game was my queen!

We played a second game, and the first casualty of that
game was.... my queen. Again. Ouch! That game went down
to the wire, we both just had our kings, one rook each and one pawn
each. The only reason I escaped that one was because I managed to
get my pawn to the end and trade in for my queen before she could do the
same. I was lucky to escape. She's really GOOD at chess!